1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a beverage bottle or container labeling device with a cutting unit and cutting unit for a beverage bottle or container labeling device.
2. Background Information
Background information is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily admit that subsequently mentioned information and publications are prior art.
The present application relates to a cutting unit, in one possible embodiment for use in a labeling device of a labeling machine, having a driving cutting drum revolving around a drum axis and provided with at least one cutting-drum blade on the circumference of the drum, and having at least one mating blade, which interacts with the cutting-drum blade for cutting and is fastened to a mating blade carrier. The blade gap formed between the cutting-drum blade and the mating blade during cutting is adjustable by means of a control element, at least one control surface of which acts on a control element of a blade gap adjusting apparatus of the mating blade carrier and/or the cutting drum and can be moved relative to the control element for this purpose. The present application also relates to a labeling device for labeling machines, in one possible embodiment for the handling of roll-fed labels, having a cutting unit.
Some labeling devices include the use of such cutting units for the labeling of bottles or similar containers with roll-fed labels, which are produced by drawing off and cutting a label to length from an endless roll of label material. These cutting units essentially comprise a cutting drum having at least one cutting drum blade on the circumferential surface of the drum and a blade shaft having at least one mating blade. In one known embodiment, cutting is performed by driving the cutting drum and the blade shaft synchronously around their axes, which are arranged parallel or virtually parallel to one another, such that the blade shaft rotates in the opposite direction of the cutting drum.
Whenever a cutting-drum blade reaches the position for making a cut, i.e. has reached the cutting gap between the cutting drum and the blade shaft, a mating blade on the blade shaft is also located there, so that the cut is performed using both blades. To essentially ensure or promote proper cutting and to prevent, restrict, and/or minimize the blades from damaging one another, the cutting gap, i.e. the distance between the coincidental blades during cutting, must or should be optimally adjusted. This adjustment is performed, for example, by adjusting the angle of rotation of the blade shaft, i.e. by changing the angular position of the blade shaft when the cutting-drum blade is in cutting position such that the desired narrowest possible blade gap posing no risk of damaging the blades is obtained.
The angle of rotation is adjusted mechanically, for example by means of the transmission driving the blade shaft, which transmission is designed to permit adjustment of the angle of rotation and has an angle of rotation adjusting apparatus for adjusting the angle of rotation. Some labeling devices also include other embodiments of cutting units, for example such having a stationary, i.e. non-rotating mating blade carrier, e.g. a blade shaft, that performs a controlled back and forth oscillatory motion, for example.
The disadvantage of cutting units of such labeling devices is that the blade gap can be very roughly set, and for example when working with very thin label material (e.g. with a thickness between thirty and forty micrometers), either results in deficient cutting or, if an attempt is made to set the blade gap appropriately narrow, in damage to the blades.